October 5th Bible Study


Psa_18:1-50
vs. 30-36

Elisha
2Ki_6:11-17

"Open his eyes that he may see..."

Prophets

Sometimes they didn't seem to fit with anybody

1Pe_2:11
Heb_11:32-40
Heb_13:10-16

Royal priests
Jewish temple
we can now go into Most Holy Place

Heb_10:19-39

Go outside city gates
Dual identity: Priest as well as alien
Looking forward to new city, heavenly city

Priest and Prophet....any parallelism to spiritual gifts?

Hebrews
Jesus higher than angels
Jesus in line of Melchizadek
no beginning, no end, priest of "Land of Peace"
Jesus' sacrifice better than animals
Therefore we can enter Most Holy Place b/c of His love
So we have faith (1Co_13:13, Heb_11:13-16) to help us along way
Live as aliens and strangers...Why?
LOOKING FORWARD TO BETTER PLACE!!!!!
God is not ashamed of people who live like this
Heb_11:16

There are joys and pains....irregardless we live for another place
Men of God will be perfected when WE are joined with them!!!!! God is making a FAMILY!

THEREFORE....

We cast off sin....how?
Heb_12:1-3
FIX EYES ON JESUS
When I feel like I can't make it I can trust HE
is the author and perfector of faith
I can take heart LIKE HIM by focusing on heaven, not on the earthly trials....
Because he bought the way, because he is perfecting me, I can take hope!!
This is how we encourage one another and
keep each other from "growing weary and
losing heart..."
We look forward and take heart from Christ, and
that is how we can him outside the
camp Heb_13:10-14

God is a jealous God
Exo_20:5
Exo_34:14
Deu_4:24
Heb_12:29

So what do I do?

Rom_12:1-3
The discipline is to "renew my mind", to focus on
God and not run to my comforts....to be like
Jesus and look beyond the cross....not give in to
temptations
So we retreat to God like Jesus did...we FIX
OUR EYES ON CHRIST...
What is the result?
We test and approve God's will...
The trick is to cling, to nestle in, to discipline
myself to run to Jesus first, to be motivated by
my hope and faith and not my comfort

Heb_11:1-2

The Prodigal Son

I just finished reading a wonderful book by Henri Nouwen called The Prodigal Son. In it, he describes how the painting The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt as well as the parable that inspired it has shaped and reshaped his view of himself, God, and the gospel. I personally think it's a great read for anybody.

Nouwen begins by describing the "lost son," the younger son who demanded his inheritance, squandered it in another country, returned to his father, and was welcomed with joy and celebrating. He shares how he oftentimes has felt like the son who wanders, if not physically, spiritually, from his father's home. He denies his father, forsakes his identity as a son, and runs away chasing things of the wind, only to find they will never sustain him. He then returns, expeccting and preparing to be nothing better than a servant and to receive the punishment he justly deserves, only to be surprised by his father's glad and joyous welcome home.

Nouwen then explains how after some years he began to see himself as the elder son. The son who always did as was expected and never "pushed the limits". As the eldest in my family, this really speaks to me. He even describes the sense of almost jealousy towards the younger son often felt by the elder child because he never felt the freedom to push the limits of love. Nouwen also offers the insight that like the younger son, the elder had also left the family, but in a more secretive, perhaps destructive way. From his language ("this son of yours") one can see he is embittered and resentful, and like the wandering prodigal, is not at home in his father's house. So just as much as this is a call for the prodigal in all of us to return to our loving Father, it is a call for the self-righteous, the experienced and repetitiously or meticulously obedient in us, to return to the place of love, affection, and spontaneous warmth found in the Father. At one point Nouwen says (paraphrased), "The younger son had passion without responsibility, but the elder had responsibility without passion."

Finally, he describes the Father, and this is where he really takes a twist. While explaining the boundless love, compassion, and concern of our Father in Heaven, Nouwen moves to make it more personal. His personal conviction was that God was calling him to become a father as well...He was being called to move beyond the place of just identifying with one of the children, but actually as the child, to grow into maturity and become like the father. Basically, he admits he is still traveling this road and definitely has not "arrived" yet, but as he travels he is called to love and emulate the ways of God...to be like the father in the parable. It's basically like when Jesus said, "Be compassionate just as your Father in Heaven is compassionate." But Nouwen is quick to explain that the life of the father is a much more lonesome, difficult, painful, and yet joyful road. By finding our complete identity in God and really living the ways of unconditional love, we will no longer be chasing affirmation and acceptance...nor will we be as likely to receive it. Just as our Father in Heaven loves us so much he lets us leave and choose to return, we too must love so much that it overflows even when others hurt us, criticize us, disappoint us, or leave us. It's hard to describe in just a blog entry, but it's a really profound insight and definitely worth checking out.

I know this entry comes across a lot like a book review or like one of those kids on Reading Rainbow...sorry about that. I was just really excited about what Henri shared and thought it might bless someone out there too.

Getting interrupted

Throughout the day yesterday I was interrupted probably 4 times to fix a grand total of 6 bikes. Man, it was divine. I admit, around the second time I felt a little annoyed. I mean, don’t these kids realize I have things to do?! I’m a busy man! But about time number three I began to realize a bunch of neighborhood kids weren’t interrupting me; God was. Fine. Doesn’t God realize I’m a busy man?!?! I have things to do, chores to complete, work to get done! (isn’t that what we say so often?) But seriously…I saw yesterday as a great time to enjoy the Lord’s presence while getting smeared with chain lube and grit. You know He’s not kidding…we really ARE supposed to wash the feet of the saints…even if the saints only wear a size 6 shoe….

These are the kinds of blessings I get down here in the city. Getting interrupted by kids who want to ride bikes or play basketball…single moms who need some juice for their babies…brothers and sisters in Christ who want to talk about Henri Nouwen over a game of Frisbee Golf…Man, God is good.

A thought occurred to me this week. Stuff like this (seeing brothers and sisters in Christ EVERY day, listening to messages of complete surrender to Jesus, barbequing with neighbors of completely different economic, racial, and social status from what I grew up in) is really normal for us down here. We kinda just see it as the average day. But to a lot of people we come off as “radical” or “extreme”. I don’t really like those words. I never read in the Bible about a “radical” Christian as compared to…well, whatever the opposite is. The only kind of Christian I read about is the fully devoted, saved-by-grace-sinner, follower of the one and only Messiah of God, kind of Christian.

I didn’t really grow up doing a lot of Church. So when I heard about the Way and chose to give my life fully to Jesus, I didn’t know of any alternatives. I just thought this was the way you did it. All the way. No exceptions.

But I guess there is a mentality that one is allowed to do less. You can probably tie it back to many things…avoiding the message of sin and redemption in our churches, “gooey” grace, people that are actually told that God doesn’t want their all, just the little bit they want to give him. I don’t know how important where it comes from is…the point is it’s here.

It bums me people who live a life of full dependence on Christ are labeled as “radical”. It marginalizes them and helps justify anyone who feels challenged by their unwavering devotion to Christ. I can definitely see that the how of this whole thing is very subjective: we each have different gifts, different things to share with the body and I believe we are definitely not all called to be the same. In fact, the body needs the diversity. But nevertheless, we are all called to a life of complete abandon and trust in Christ. Our jobs, our hopes, our fears, our “security” plans, our spouses, our kids, our acts of service, everything is His. He is the God of the universe and he does demand full devotion. Why? Because He loves us SO VERY MUCH!!!! Could you imagine a young man marrying a young woman and agreeing to share her half the time with some of his good ol’ boys from college? Of course not! He wants ALL of her, she wants ALL of him. So why would God be different? He wants us fully, and you know what? He promised if we seek him fully he would reveal himself to us, give himself to us. Now that’s love. And He showed us his love and loyalty first. So why settle for less?

In Psalm 34 it says to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” For us who have tasted, we know the Lord is good…so let’s go and get more of the goodness! Let’s surrender our WHOLE lives to Him, no more excuses, no more trying to give God boundaries, rules, or hoops to jump through. He proved his love. So no more of this 10% rule (and I’m not talking about tithing). No more of this “I’ll go once I get this or that thing done…or once I get this much money.” Our lives are like grass, we can get smoked at any moment. Why live a life preparing only to have it cut short by an unexpected turn of events? What will we say to God in that day? “Well Lord, I know my neighbors had a tough time making ends meet and you see I was planning to help out, but I just needed a little more in the bank first.” There’s a reason Jesus told us not to worry…that he would take care of all our needs for today. It’s trust. Complete reckless, misunderstood abandon to Christ. He bought us all so he gets us all. Let’s journey this together.

wedding

a couple of months ago i got married to an AMAZING young beauty named Prari. it's been a little busy lately so i haven't had a lot of time to process pictures n stuff, but here are a few shots from the wedding for everyone to enjoy.


here's a link if ya'll wants to see some video clips of the wedding ceremony...don't worry, it's only 10 minutes... ;)

Create your own video at One True Media

me with my dudes...we're all wannabe rock stars...

my fine lady with my little sis


dang that chica's beautiful....

us with brother lew....he's a cult leader...

cheers!!

us covered with cake...me looking....well, weird....

so cute!!!

together forever...

you know, this whole blog thing is kinda funny. i write every here and there, sometimes out of desire, other times out of obligation. i'm not really sure who's obligating me...maybe it's just me. maybe it's that part of me that's wants to be part of something, that wants to fit in or draw some attention. maybe i just want to know that someone out there is reading, listening. it's always nice to know someone listens to you.

a friend of mine tells me i'm a pretty decent writer. i can't really say if he's right or not, but it'd be thrilling if i am. it's kind of like that feeling you may have had when you were a kid playing tee ball or something. i played tee ball so that makes sense to me. if you've ever seen a tee ball game before, it's pretty hilarious. a bunch of 6 year olds picking dandelions and humming songs or picking their noses while one little freckly kid takes like 47 swings at a ball. and finally he'll hit it and every single member of the opposite team runs after it. absolutely hilarious. but you know what i remember? i remember that feeling i got when i (finally) hit the ball and my mom and dad would shoot out of their seats clapping and yelling. they were so excited for me...i must have been glowing. i don't think i really cared if i got out or not. just hitting the ball and hearing mom and dad's proud voices was enough for me.

i think it's kinda that way with God. sometimes i spend so much time trying to catch the eye of people around me, but what's the use? they're all swinging away as much as i am. and maybe picking their noses, too. but when my Father gets up and yells for me, when i hear that excited shout, i feel like i can take over the world. the other noises, the yelling of the other kids, is drowned out by that exuberant, giddy voice of my Dad. my heart pounds, my bow legs tumble after one another in a sort of duck-run, and i give it all i have to get to first. and sometimes i get out. sometimes it's even more than sometimes...but in that moment i don't care. i see Dad and Dad sees me and we understand what it's all about.

so i guess that's what makes this blogging thing kinda funny. i'm not a very good journaler, nor have i ever been that proficient at writing articles or profound insights. and trust me, i've tried to become that scholar to impress people who know me better than i'd ever be comfortable admitting. but every here and there, amidst the rants and ravings i scribble out here, i can hear Dad get up out of his seat...and i may not be able to see him right now because i'm focused on getting to that base, but somehow i know He's smiling...and this feels like the right thing to do.

okay, haven't written in awhile...like 2 1/2 months. guess i'm not much of a blogger (however will I fit into the postmodern church?!?!?!) heh heh heh....

but a little more seriously: i went to court today to challenge a ticket i felt was given unjustly. to make a long story short(er) i believe this officer gave me the ticket because he was suspicious of where i was going or what i was doing with our next door neighbor in the car. this officer had arrested our neighbor several times before...

i have personnally seen him as the officer who is the first to show up next door when there is a crowd over there...

and ironically, our neighbor is supposed to appear in court tomorrow for a different charge...one that had absolutely NOTHING to do with this officer...and yet this officer's name is signed as the one filing the complaint.

seem suspicious? add in the fact that the neighbor 2 houses down has cameras and audio devices specifically aimed next door...he's trying to get them evicted. i'm checking to see if it's legal to video someone else, but so far the police have done nothing about it...

mix it all up and we have a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...more specifically, i'd call it prejudice (but that's just me). i just know that i did some pretty dumb stuff when i was a teenager and got caught by the five-o...and i never had the trouble or rigamorale i'm seeing here with these dear ones (of course, i lived in the nice white suburbs...).

i can't really say exactly what we should do. many times we just don't know what to do, and things can change so quickly down here. i do think we're going to try to stand up for the rights of the oppressed, we're going to try to fight for justice...and we may lose. in fact the odds are pretty good that we'll lose. the roaming lion down here has a knack for perverting justice and confusing minds. but most importantly i think we're going to wait on God and try to glorify Him...probably at the loss of ourselves. but that's okay...i wasn't all that attached to this place anyways...

I'm challenged lately....as if that's something new. I look at the stuff I have (a car, a motorcycle, a big dog, etc.) and I wonder if my life could be simplified...I wonder if it's right to simplify...

I mean, each of these things in and of themselves serve a great purpose. And I have enjoyed them for what they're worth. But my desire lately to simplify, to tighten my belt, grab my biscuits for the journey and run, is strong. I don't know if it's the words of Jesus just really convicting me or if I just like the things in my life to be compartmentalized and easy to handle...I'm not really sure it matters so much right now. I think what matters is faithfulness and obedience.

This is the kind of stuff that usually drives me nuts. I just want to know, and I want to know now...yep, that's me. I'm learning a lot about patience...waiting and enjoying God in the little places my stubborn mind and heart never thought he would want to occupy. He's making a fool of me, having me make these crazy choices amidst a world so centered on predictability and security.

Well, I figure I'm just going to be content being his fool, his child. It's not like my degree's getting me anywhere... ;)

so it's time to wait and enjoy the show...